A Quick Cure For The Overwhelmed Homeschooling Parent Syndrome

 What is the cure for Overwhelmed Home Schooling Parent Syndrome?  

Find yourself a homeschool convention to attend this year. I challenge you to do this and see what you can come away with. Post back and let us know. 

You will love attending, the first one may be a bit overwhelming, but you will take away so much! 

Spend your convention evenings jotting down notes and thinking things through. Then the next day talk with vendors and the speakers to get your questions answered. 

Here is an article (it's an oldie but a goodie) to give you more encouragement Curing Overwhelmed Home Schooling Parent Syndrome

Last year many homeschool conferences were virtual, we hope that this year will be different.  
Let us know what homeschool conferences you have attended and what your favorite part of the conference is.

Curing The Overwhelmed Homeschooling Parent Syndrome

What is the cure for Overwhelmed Home Schooling Parent Syndrome?  

Find yourself a homeschool convention to attend this year. I challenge you to do this and see what you can come away with. Post back and let us know. 

You will love attending, the first one may be a bit overwhelming, but you will take away so much! 

Spend your convention evenings jotting down notes and thinking things through. Then the next day talk with vendors and the speakers to get your questions answered. 

Here is an article (it's an oldie but a goodie) to give you more encouragement Curing Overwhelmed Home Schooling Parent Syndrome

Last year many homeschool conferences were virtual, we hope that this year will be different.  
Let us know what homeschool conferences you have attended and what your favorite part of the conference is.

A love of literature?

During recess The Homeschooled Young Man was playing with Lego's and made this sign. It says "I LOVE LIT" he is really enjoying his literature class. He set up the picture and took it himself. You can see his Lego bags handing under the kitchen table, he is in the process of sorting all his Lego pieces into bags while I read his literature to him.

I LOVE LIT

Ah, the blessings of homeschooling, never a dull or boring moment in learning. Learning is for a lifetime and is not a time of loathing. We are reading through the Abeka Of People Literature book.

How are things going this week in your homeschool? What are the kids enjoying? What needs some work? Have you done any tweaking this year?

Have a wonderful week!

Duet 11:19

Is Homeschooling Stressing You Out?

There are a lot of Moms out there stressing over their children's education due to being new homeschoolers. I want to offer up some encouragement for those Moms.

Is Homeschooling Stressing You Out?

• Do you wonder whether your children are learning?
• Does it seem like the longer you homeschool, the harder it gets?
• Do you sometimes ask yourself how other Moms seem to homeschool their children, keep their houses running smoothly and still hang onto their sanity?

If you answered "YES" to any of those questions this is the book for you!

This an awesome book that Lori a member of my blog recommended and it has been a great help to our homeschool. It was a very fast read for this very tired momma. Author Barbara Frank has been there, done that and shares some wonderful information. As a veteran home educator, Barbara offers up some wonderful encouragement.

Here are a few goodies from her book that you will learn.
Learn how you can: 

• Get past the “public school” way of thinking by customizing lessons for each child.
• Boost your self-confidence by learning how to measure what your children have learned.
• Reduce your stress level with “115 Organizing Tips for Homeschoolers.”
• Free yourself of attitudes and habits that make homeschooling harder than it has to be.
• New chapters in The Imperfect Homeschooler’s Guide to Homeschooling include:
• Top Ten Tools for Homeschooling Parents
• Reclaiming Your Child
• Homeschooling a Child with Special Needs
• Do You Know Where Your Math Manipulatives Are?
• The Freedom You’d Have If You Sent Your Kids to School

No time like the present to read a good book!

My ideas for you? Get out of the house and hit the apple orchards and pumpkin patches!!

Have a wonderful week.

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Pay one membership and the entire family gets to use it! Click this link School House Teachers and enter in Promo Code MAMABEAR for special pricing. Get in on the sale price today!

May contain Christian content and may contain affiliate links that generate a small amount of income to keep this blog running.

Institute For Excellence in Writing Review

Long, long ago, at a home school convention far, far away we first heard of Andrew Pudewa and Institute For Excellence in Writing. Homeschooling friends that came with us to the convention attended his workshop and bought the program. I spent an entire school year hearing about how wonderful the program was, but the cost still turned me off. During the course of that school year our son had loaded several of the convention speakers sessions onto his Ipod. Our son went crazy over Andrew Pudewa! But I thought there is NO WAY I am spending that kind of money on a writing program when we have tons of notebook paper, pens and pencils right here in our own home for FREE!
 Guess where our writing program had advanced to BEFORE starting The Old Schoolhouse Review Crews review of Institute For Excellence in Writing with Teaching Writing with Structure and Style Set (TWSS) and Student Writing Intensive Level A Set (SWI)?

Yes, exactly we were still at square one, having days, weeks and years of a student staring at a blank piece of notebook paper. My son would stare in wonderment at the blank paper wondering how on earth to take notes. Even though I thoroughly explained how to take notes (jot down the most important stuff! How hard is that?) It was a struggle for my son to fluff up a story that needed a few more lines, to write creatively or to write an essay. I knew how to do all these things, but I just was not teaching it in a way that was clicking with my son.

 

For this review we received the Teaching Writing: Structure & Style (TWSS) DVD Seminar and Practicum Workbook

We also got the Student Writing Intensive-Preparing Students to Write with Structure & Style Student Seminar Materials Level A set for grades 3-5. There are 3 levels. Level A grades 3-5, Level B grades 6-8 and Level C grades 9-12. The nice thing is that you just need to buy the student materials for each level, the teacher materials stay the same.

What this home school Momma liked about IEW

1. I really liked the parent/teacher training. I have know a few people that did not do well with this program, I am now seeing why, they did not buy the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. They were just trying to use the student materials.
2. I love how he chats about practicing musical instruments…lol…boy did that catch my son off guard! LOL.
3. Often times I wondered what was going on in our media room where my son watches the DVD’s, there was constant laughter coming from in there when he was watching Andrew.
4. He is so funny in how he chit chats with the kids while he is teaching them, I think sometimes I get WAY too serious when I am teaching.
5. After a few weeks of using Institute For Excellence in Writing with Teaching Writing with Structure and Style Set (TWSS) and Student Writing Intensive Level A Set (SWI),  my son started to put what he was learning to work. I had signed him up for a study skills and note taking class at the local college, after the first class the teacher wanted to talk to me...LOL…being the mom of a boy, I thought “Oh, no!” Well she was interested in where he had learned to take notes since he was the only student (grades 6-9) on the first day of class doing so without having been prompted. I was dumb founded, where did he learn to take notes? Well after finding out that he was using the outline system from IEW, I knew the material was taking hold and carrying over to outside school activities. SOLD!
6. That same week we attended a home school convention, I attended the IEW vendor workshop and purchased a few more items. I bought the Level C set and the book FIX-IT! Grammar and Editing Made Easy with Classics.
7. Love the “Dress Ups” that is such a great way to remind the kids to dress up their papers.
8. Teachers notes are AWESOME!
9. Andrew is so funny with how he read the stories and makes noises and such mayhem…lol. Definitely a boy thing!
10. The course schedule is so nice, I like something that I can cross off what we have done. It’s also nice to be able to look ahead at upcoming lessons.
11. There are so many take a ways for me that will help me in teaching other subjects. Just the outlining format will help with research papers, history assignments etc.
12. I liked the Handouts, I put them in page protectors and used a magnet to hang them up on our dry erase board to use as a reminder. I made notes, drew arrows and pointed out many things from the Handouts.

What this home school Momma did not like about IEW:

1. Andrew was easy to hear, but the adults in the training DVD’s and the students in the Student Writing Intensive DVD’s that were answering questions were off mic and it was rather annoying to me that you could hardly hear them. This might be a minor annoyance to some but I have worked in radio/TV for many years and it drives me bananas to hear something like that.
2. I was a bit overwhelmed at how long the DVD’s were, DO NOT wait until just before school starts to make your purchase of Institute For Excellence in Writing with Teaching Writing with Structure and Style Set (TWSS) and Student Writing Intensive Level A Set (SWI). You will want some time to look over the materials and watch the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style DVD’s. Don’’t fret though, there are Easy Start Instructions included in the student materials, but I highly recommend watching the teaching DVD’s first.
3. I did not like how he had said that grammar books can be dangerous, that could cause kids to become negative towards grammar books. He does go on to talk more about this, but I think it should be discussed in a different fashion when working with impressionable children.
4. I wonder if the Adverb and Prepositions sheets might become a crutch over time?

What this home school student liked about IEW:

1. I liked his humor.
2. Andrew relates well to boys and that is VERY helpful in writing because most boys don‘t like to write.
3. I like how the DVD stops at certain spots, because sometimes I don’t know where the remote is and it’s helpful to not lose my place on the DVD.
4. I like how he talked to the kids about everyday things such as practicing musical instruments.
5. I liked how he addressed those watching at home. It seemed like I was right there with the other kids.
6. Easy to follow along.
7. I liked how he talked about writing wild and crazy things in letters to friends and how we don’t always have to be formal in a letter.
8. The stories were fun.
9. I liked how he made words come to life in the writing, they were more colorful.
10. In the middle of this review I was enrolled in a note taking and study skills class at our local community college, the first day I started taking notes when class started. The instructor stopped teaching and commented on what I was doing. I told her I was taking notes, she walked around the classroom at that time and pointed out how some students were doodling, some were staring off into space, one was sleeping and I was the only one taking notes. She was very impressed, she even talked to my mom after class and complimented me in front of her. She was really surprised to find out that I was home schooled, I guess home schooled kids should not know how to take notes? LOL.
11. Later in the week we went to the state home schooling conference and I asked my mom if I could buy the Portable Walls which is the Handy fold-outs with writing models and word lists on it. She let me!
12. I like the way that Mr. Pudewa is so animated when he read the stories.
13. My favorite story was The Boy Who Cried Wolf, I like the way Mr. Pudewa got goofy in the way he read it.

What this home school Student did not like about IEW:

1. I can’t think of any thing that I did not like.

Institute For Excellence in Writing will give your student the ability to take notes, write stories, summarize using main ideas, write reports. Oh, I almost forgot, how to have fun with and fine tune creative writing skills. Another exciting thing that I found out through having the privilege of taking part in this review is that a friend of mine's son uses Institute For Excellence in Writing at his private Christian high school. I thought that was pretty cool that even brick and mortar schools use IEW. Please be sure to check out the rest of the http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ website for many more great products for your homeschool. If you have a chance to attend an IEW vendor workshop at your local homeschool convention go for it! I attended one this spring and learned so much about IEW.

 

 

My son has truly been blessed through this review, it's helped him stop struggling so much with writing, though he still has to gain more confidence before posting any of his work on my blog. We have a few more lessons to get through on Level A, we plan to skip Level B and move right on to Level C which I bought at convention.

How To Get Your Boys To Write In 2 Easy Steps

Got boys that don't like to write? Reluctant writers? Boys with writers block? Guess what? I have found an awesome easy fix! In just 2 easy manageable steps you too can have a writer on your hands.

STEP 1: Ok, homeschool Mamma secret #1 is here...lol...what is one way to get boys to write? Get them interested in something...lol. BINGO! Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! Lego, Star Wars, hunting, fishing, running etc. What do your boys like to do?

STEP 2: Give them a safe platform to find their nitch in writing. The answer? BLOGGING!

I am pretty excited and a bit nervous as my little Homeschooled Young Man steps out into the world and begins his blogging journey. You can check him out over at The Brick Boy's Tips, Tricks And Reviews blog.

He plans to chat with other boys and teens about Lego's, making airplane models and creating 4-H projects. He is pretty excited about starting this blog. He won't be making any money on the blog (I think he thought he would make millions...lol), guess you have to be 18 to be able to have ads on your blog. Which is a great safety feature over at The Brick Boy's Tips, Tricks And Reviews blog. No worries over nasty ads appearing on the pages.

He is hoping to do some product reviews from companies, but has not done any work on that yet, so he is just buying the items himself and reviewing them.

I hope that you will feel free to pass his blog on to any young boys and teens that would enjoy what the Homeschooled Young Man is offering on his blog. Most of you are already familiar with his writing that he has done when he contributed to The Old Schoolhouse Magazines' product review. Also as readers you know our content will be safe for young readers. Also all comments are on moderation. He is also looking for guest bloggers, so contact him through his blog if you have a boy interested in WRITING (hahaha-insert sarcastic laughing), you can check out their grammar & spelling skills in their blog post.

Boy, am I getting pretty savvy or what at this homeschooling stuff-hahaha, wish I was this calm and laid back in the very beginning. Back when I first began homeschooling I would have never thought about blogging as being a writing, spelling or grammar assignment. I would have relied on worksheets, textbooks and grammar/spelling rules. We've come a long way baby! Have I ever said how much I am loving the teen years?

I hope that you can see your homeschool evolving over time into YOUR homeschool and not someone else's idea of what homeschooling is.

Take care,

Easy Art Project

Here are some fun art ideas for you from a friend of mine that has taught art. Here is one she sent me. Easy First Day Art Project. For boys you could have them draw Medieval shields instead of the flowers. What a neat idea!

We start school this coming week, I am excited, nervous, thrilled and not fully prepared yet...lol. We are in the process of finishing up 4-H records and getting the club scrapbook put together. So lots of stuff to do this Labor Day weekend.

Have a good one!

Enforced Idleness or masterly inactivity??

Have you ever heard of this? It's a first for me too. "Enforced Idleness or Masterly Inactivity", it's all the talk in the homeschool world, it's making your kids do things like play outside, read a book, make a craft, chop wood, garden, play board games, play with dolls, or play with Legos.

LOL.......ok, I thought all those things were just about being a kid? I am so excited now and I can even relax over the fact that we now have a technical name for it, I fretted for years wondering what on earth to call it........LOL.

Though idleness is a topic that does need some looking into to make sure we know what our kids are doing during these idle times, because being idle or having inactivity can cause serious issues in the middle school and teen years  :) Three Bible verses come to mind when I think of Idleness.

1. Proverbs 31:27
   She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
2. Ecclesiastes 10:18
   By much slothfulness the building decayeth; and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through.
    
3. Ezekiel 16:49
   Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

I think Enforced Idleness is not a good term, it should be called "Kids Playing."

Will It Be The Big Yellow Bus or Homeschooling this year??

A while back, I was with the Homeschooled Young Man at a Civil War Re-Enactment that he was re-enacting in and my cell phone rang. It was one of my doctors calling me with a report. Of course, it was VERY loud on my end with all excitement and cannons being fired that goes on with a re-enactment. The doctor asked me where I was and I explained we had taken the day off from homeschool to participate in the re-enactment. My doctor looked out his office window and he could see the general area that we were in and he said "Wow, your son gets to do the coolest things!"

As parents, we can all offer up cool opportunities for our children to experience, but it's so much easier to just put them on that big yellow bus and let someone else handle it all for 8+ hours a day. No worries and no responsibility for our kids. Sometimes the Easy Button is not the right button to push.

Are you considering home education for your child this coming school year? It is not too late, even if you have already registered them for the big yellow school bus to take them away each day. You can do it!! Let me know how I can help you.

What School Supply Item Are You Addicted To?

STICKY NOTES!!!

I must have them in all shapes and sizes, 

not to mention all colors...lol.

LOL...this is just my secret stash in my school supplies, I've got sticky note pads in my car, date book, living room, media room, kitchen and dining room...lol.

I asked the child what school supplies we need for the school year, he says "NONE." I say "I think we need some sticky notes." (they are my weakness!!!). He yells out "With all the sticky notes we have, I think we are preparing for Sticky Note Y2K!" lol...Maybe we can just bypass my sticky note obsession and move on to the question at hand? "How on earth does the child know about Y2K?"

 

 

Picaboo Homeschool Yearbook Review

As members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew (TOS) we have been privileged to make a homeschool yearbook through Picaboo Yearbooks. (Pronounced PeekABoo).

I'm grinning from ear to ear! I have to say that this was so much fun to make! It might make #1 in our top reviews of the TOS year! Here is the Moe disclaimer for this product. WATCH THE TUTORIAL BEFORE TRYING TO MAKE YOUR YEARBOOK! Have I ever told you that you need to read or watch the instructions for a product before using it? lol...yes I attempted to click around on the Picaboo Yearbooks website and I failed miserably. lol

I have made many photo books in my time using other companies, but I‘ve never thought to make a homeschool yearbook before being given this review opportunity! WOW, the possibilities are endless for the homeschool family! With Picaboo Yearbooks for homeschoolers! there are autograph pages, QR CODES Add video to your printed yearbook pages, and the real plus for us homeschooler is that there is no minimum number of books to order. You can also do an eYearbook for people to view on line. You can even sell your book on your own yearbook store front, customers pay for books and shipping costs directly to the store front. No collecting $$ for the books. Each person that purchases a yearbook from your store front can custom design the cover of their yearbook. PRETTY NEAT! Think fundraiser!! Businesses can even use Picaboo Yearbooks to make customized directories. These can be shipped to schools or individual homes. You get to pick either matte or gloss laminate for the cover. The yearbook that we created for the TOS review contained 20 pages, were 8 1/2 x 11 sized and the cost was $9.49 per book. Additional pages are 22¢ per page and additional personalized pages are 99¢ per page. Shipping cost is $8.99. Here is a link to the ordering page. Click here and then scroll down to the softcover yearbook.

Easy to use design tools--no minimum order--3-week turnaround--free tools & support


(pages from our actual yearbook we made) We added some of our favorite sayings from our school year.

After figuring out the software and making our first Picaboo Yearbook I think that I could probably whip out another yearbook in about an hour if I had my pictures picked out ahead of time. That was the most time consuming part was trying to decided what pictures to use. Since we were doing this as a TOS review we had a set time frame to get our yearbook made. For the normal user like you, pictures can be gathered year round and then added to the yearbook.
 

This is a stock photo from Picaboo Yearbooks and not from our actual yearbook

What this homeschool Momma liked about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) Love the idea of making a homeschool year book, we did one for junior high. 
2) Once I got the hang of it, I LOVED it.
3) I liked the features of being able to place pictures wherever I wanted on the page, turn them, tilt them etc.
4) This would be INCREDIBLE for co-op groups or homeschool groups to make yearbooks.
5) I liked how you could organized your photos, it made the pages flow a better than trying to remember what you had on which page.
6) Great inexpensive way for schools to create yearbooks.
7) Love how the books come in hardbound or soft cover.
8) Other parties can add photos, so you can have more than 1 person working on the book at a time. GREAT for yearbook clubs.
9) Looks like it would be easy to import many student photos at one time and the program has the ability to sort the photos by grade.
10) You get to pick the number of pages for your book.
11) Great fundraiser ideas for schools, churches, and other groups.
12) The Live Chat that is GREAT! I had to use it for a question and they were very friendly.
13) AWESOME PRICE!
　
What this homeschool Momma did not like about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) There is a learning curve with this program. WATCH THE TUTORIAL BEFORE TRYING TO MAKE YOUR YEARBOOK!
My student picked up right away on how it all worked, but I needed a bit of a tutorial on it…lol. I have used other photo book makers with no trouble, but this one threw me for a curve…lol. I finally figured it all out and it is actually VERY easy to use. After making our book, I think I could probably whip one out in about an hour if I had my pictures picked out ahead of time. 
2) I wish that the softcover yearbook would open up flat, it does not want to stay open.


Pictures from our actual yearbook and the white page is an autograph page.

What this homeschool student liked about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) VERY easy to use, I figured it out right away and stared adding pictures. Watch the tutorial videos, they will show you exactly what to do. And be sure to lock your pictures when you are done with each section.
2) LOVED that background choices, sticker options, fonts and colors that I could pick from.
3) I liked how I could move the pictures around easily.
4) I liked how I could change things if I did not like how it looked, after I previewed them.
5) There are some pretty cool stickers, but we decided not to use any (can’t wait to see how the other TOS reviewers used them).

What this homeschool student did not like about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) I did not realize that I could add a title to my yearbook cover.
2) I did not like the automatic page photo inserter (not sure what to call it) it would cut off part of the pictures and it was easy to miss.

You might wonder what on eart making a yearbook has to do with homeschooling? How to teach yearbook as an elective class. We like history and our school year is historical (yes, sometimes it’s even hysterical as you can see from our Picaboo Yearbooks!) Yearbooks work on art, grammar, spelling, creative writing, organization and many other skills. I think that kids of any age could use this if they know how to use the computer. I would guess ages 10 and up.  We will be making another yearbook for our next school years. I plan to make a yearbook folder on my computer to add miscellaneous picture for our next time we make one.

　

Ideas for Homeschooling High School

There are lots of brand new homeschooler starting high school this year.

What worked for you and what did not work? How do you make a push for independence? How do  you set up school work accountability? Will you work in dual credits? AP classes (where did will your kids take these tests? Did you get your material approved for AP?), will you do dual enrollment? College classes? Online classes? Any non textbook things you plan to use?
Oh, the list seems endless!

Love is in the air...Homeschool love that is...

Today is a HOT summer day, but in our home it was like Christmas. Our homeschool packages arrived!

I have not received any compensation or benefits for writing this blog post.

Apologia Physics Instructional DVD

 The Homeschooled Young Man could not wait to tear open this package and see what was inside!

When the Homeschooled Young Man see's bubble wrap, he knows it's gonna be a good day! 'Cause any boy knows that bubble wrap serves 3 purposes.

1. Bubble Wrap protects our purchases

2. Bubble Wrap makes for great workout routine jumping up and down on all the bubbles

3. Bubble Wrap drives a Homeschool Mom crazy with the popping sounds and the jumping up and down in the house!

Apologia Physics

The box is not yet unloaded and the Homeschooled Young Man has the book open and is reading through the lessons...lol...ah, the glory of homeschooling. 

Have you ever seen a child who is hold up in classroom all day, for 180 school days per year and are this is excited when their Apologia Physics Instructional DVD arrives in the mail? Yes, I know, we are weird, we homeschool, need I say more?

Praise the Lord for the learning everywhere about everything mindset. Our world is our classroom and we are loving it. Learning is not a chore it is a lifestyle in the homeschool.

I have not received any compensation or benefits for writing this blog post.

Hear ye, Hear ye: 20 Questions & The Homeschool Planning Meeting.

Summer has flown by and we are almost ready for a brand new school year. Tomorrow will be our annual Homeschool Planning Meeting. We have some pretty neat stuff to plan for. The Homeschooled Young Man has some thinking to do, we ask that he bring his ideas to the table in writing (by doing this he gets to practice real life skills in handwriting, spelling, critical thinking, organization, time management, goal setting skills). Things that I have on the agenda...of course they won't be hammered out in stone because it's just July and we don't follow the public school schedule, so we are good. But I like to get something penciled in, so I can be on the prowl for good deals on our homeschooling materials.

1. What will be our core courses?

2. What will we use for those core courses?

3. What extras will we add in to round it all out?

4. What will be done as full year courses and what will be done as semester courses?

5. Field trip ideas?

6. Will we attend homeschool convention next year?

7. What life/social skills will we work on this year?

8. What volunteering will we be involved in?

9. What career training/skills/shadowing will he be involved in?

10. Will he be a part of TeenPact.org again this year?

11. What classes outside the home will he take?

12. What are some things that he would like to learn?

13. What sort of employment will he take part in?

14. What 4-H projects will work together with our schooling this year? (the 4-H Health Sciences can be used for Health class, the Cooking 101 project can be used for Home Ec credit etc. Homeschoolers are always thinking outside the box with real life skills.

15. What scholarships will he be applying for?

16. Will there be standardized testing this year? Stanford 10? SAT? ACT? ASVAB?

17. What colleges will we visit?

18. What materials do we have on hand that we can use instead of buying more stuff.

19. What church related activities will we take part in?

20. What worked and did not work last school year?

I am sure that more will come up as we chat around the kitchen table. However, this is what homeschooling is all about. Yes, some homeschoolers have a set of state standards that they must abide by, but there is so much more to homeschooling that those standards. We as homeschoolers can focus on so much more right alongside schoolwork. So many more rich life changing experiences that we can afford our children.

What are we teaching our pre-teens & teens about SEX??

This picture says it all, I had never really thought of it this way. What have you used to teach your children about abstinence? In our home we have talked about it since the very beginning. With our son being adopted, his birthparents were college students and that helped with explaining a lot of things. Our son had a pretty good understanding of single parenting and just how difficult life is for single parents and their children. We have used God's word in the book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon. We have also talked about King David and his sin. 

Another of my favorites is called A Chickens Guide To Talking Turkey With Your Kids About Sex. I heard an interview on Focus On The Family with the authors and liked. Got it free from the library...check it out!

What have use used in your home regarding this topic?

Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak Review

Please note that prices and offers may change after this blog post has been published.
We are SUPER CHARGED with excitement to share with you The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak for grades 3rd-8th from Home School In The Woods.

Hard at work? Or hardly working because this is so much FUN?

 We received a download version to review for The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. Home School In The Woods also offers a CD versions too. You can find it here at 20th Century in America Lap-Pak.
　

Completed Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak for ages 3rd-8th grade is seen above and below is a list of what is included.

The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak comes with the following areas of study:

Newspapers & TV Media
Sports
Persons of importance
Conflicts around the world
Politics
Medical
Space travel
Art history
Architecture
Writers & books
Musical movements
Transportation
Historical events
Missionaries
Disasters
The Stock Market Crash
Science and Inventions
Food Trends of the 20^th Century
Clothing styles
Jargon of the 20^th Century
Timeline
WarsThe 20th Century in America Lap-Pak also comes with a booklet to make that contains more information about the history of the 20^th Century.





What this homeschool Momma did not like:

I failed to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. I just jumped in and started printing everything off. Big goof! Some pages needed to be printed on colored paper and some needed to be printed back to back. My goof, but I think for us rushed home schooled Momma’s it would be great if on the main page we were told to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. LOL...chalk this up to operator error and nothing against Home School In The Woods. I'm must showing that I am a real life person and do goof up!

I think this would be hard for younger kids to follow all the detailed instructions by themselves, so younger kids would need a lot of supervision with this, BUT I think it would be a great learning experience and lots of fun to work on together.

What this homeschool Momma liked:

I found that this Lap-Pak contained projects that work on the following skill sets including art, drawing and creative writing. This Lap-Pak allows the student to delve into fun topics all the while learning historical facts. Use of research skills and math skills (using measurements to make sure that the pieces went together correctly) were also used.

Our student got totally lost in this Lap-Pak, he would spent hours working on it. He was coloring, cutting, gluing, taping and putting brads on. I was so impressed by the work that he was doing. Following each direction to a T.

This was so cool! We used overhead projector transparencies to make windows for these.

 Our 12 year old 7^th grade student was able to work totally on his own with this.

Our student was thrilled with this Lap-Pak and wants to tackle The Civil War one next.

Our student did have some difficulty figuring out the photocopying of the back to back/back to front of pages, but I am putting that down under the “What I liked” section, because he learned how to use the copier and flip the pages over to photocopy on the backside. So I was very pleased that he learned some real life skills through this review. How many of us homeschool moms struggle with “which side do I put up in the paper tray, when we are making photo copies. (waving hand in the air)

This record player is the neatest thing! It spins and has different saying that show up.

What this homeschool student liked:"It was really a fun project.” “I liked the section on “Dining Through The Decades“, the recipes were fun and I liked learning about the different foods such as the Dagwood Sandwich.

Instructions were very detailed and easy to follow. I was able to complete the Lap-Pak during the review. Everything was explained step-by-step.

I really liked how the project shapes for each area corresponded with each area I was studying. For example, the “Medical Advances” used a syringe that you cut out and put together. You then pull the plunger up and a new medical advancement shows up in the window.

Fun way to learn history.

“I liked the fact that there was more to do than in an ordinary lap-book. I think that this Lap-Pak was made for older kids and was a lot of fun to do.

I want to review the Civil War Lap Pak next!

I plan to use this with my 4-H project this year too.

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!

What this homeschool student did not likeI wish that there was an easier way to figure out how to photo copy the pages from front to back, I goofed several times and ran out of colored paper. I started to get frustrated and then finally figured it out. YEAH!



The Home School In The Woods Lap-Paks are fun and a great learning tool for your homeschool. There are several to choose from and lots of fun learning to be had by all ages. We are thankful to Home School In The Woods for allowing us this great learning opportunity to review The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak.

Lapbooking

A Journey Through Learning has lapbooks for many subjects and grade levels. These are great for all kids and even for kids with special needs.

We LOVE lapbooks in our homeschool. Learning made fun!http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/expresslapbook.html

Enjoy,
Moe

Work Life Balance Hacks for You Homeschool Mom

I am a paper calendar kinda gal. This is so cool! I love this idea, I do not like to program my phone or add events to program my calendar. Can't wait to try this.

Homeschool Mom's need to be constantly watching that calendar because things can get out of control!
What do you think? Anyone know what HACK means? lol...sometimes I'm slow  :O)

What a great suggestion from an M.D.

Apologia Young Explorer Series Science Book Review

Are you looking for an easy science curriculum for your 4th-6th grader?
We had seen Apologia in the vendor hall and heard them speak at our homeschool convention. We sort of drooled over the Apologia curriculum, but in keeping with tradition we continued with our ‘boxed curriculum’ that we always used. “Why change?” Well let me tell you, once the Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology showed up in the mail, it was like Christmas at our house, ripping and tearing of the mailing bag, paper flying all over! Our son was just going crazy over the color pictures, upcoming fun experiments and the activity pages in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.

Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (hardcover) by Jeannie Fulbright and Brooke Ryan, M.D. Grades 4-6.

The student textbook is hardcover and looks as thought it would hold up well for use by more than one student. 

Young Explorer Series Anatomy Notebooking Journal for Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology (spiral bound) by Jeannie Fulbright. Grades 3-6.

The Journal is spiral bound with a soft cover and it has yet to tear by the spiral, most of our spiral bound textbooks/workbooks from other companies seem to fray quickly and eventually tear at the first few spirals. 



Even though our student is in the 7^th grade, I felt that this would be a good fit for him since science has always been a struggle for my normally sharp student. The boxed curriculum that we had been using pretty much focused on memorizing terms and answering questions: BORING! Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology teaches from a different angle. “This K-6 science curriculum uses the Charlotte Mason methodology to give young students an introduction to the incredible human body.” 

 Things that our student liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) The book is hardcover “I can toss it in my book bag to take in the car and it does not get all bent up.”

2) I like the full color photos and crisp pages.

3) “You always get to do something fun in the Try This section. ” 

 4) The course website book extras were GREAT!!! “I had fun going to these websites to read more about what I was learning in each lesson.”

Things that our student did not like about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) "NOTHING, I LOVED IT AND CAN'T WAIT FOR TOMORROW'S LESSON!"

What this Momma did not like about Young Explorer Series Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) I thought that the MP3 audio would be great, until I found that it would only play in our computer. The MP3 does state that “you must play it in an MP3-compatible CD player or on a computer”. I was thinking that it would have been great to take it on car trips or for our student to be able to listen to it in his room on a CD player.

2) I did not care for some of the printing fonts used in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, I thought that they were very hard for me to read. And might be especially hard for younger children that are not yet seasoned readers. The fonts used on many of the pages are bubbly or squiggly shaded fonts that are really hard on the eyes, otherwise the rest of the type is fine throughout the journal.  I get that the digestive system is squiggly because it's the intestines, but for a struggling reader, this might be hard to read. They are very cute and fun though. 

Things that this homeschooling Momma liked about Apologia Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology:

1) Penmanship, it always seems like such a chore in the homeschool, read just about any homeschooling blog or website and you will see Mothers chatting about handwriting. The Anatomy Notebooking Journal incorporates copy work right in to their lessons. It’s all blended together in the learning process and as an added blessing the copy work consists of Bible memory verses!!

2) I like the answer key being in the back of the textbook, it’s nice not to have an extra book (answer key) to hunt for when grading work. The lesson planning guide is included in the Anatomy Notebooking Journal, yet again one less thing to have to hunt for :O)

3) Love, Love, Love the different skin tones of the paper dolls to pick from in the Personal Person project.

4) The section of the student textbook called “How To Use This Book: A step-by-step guide and the Items Needed to Complete Each Lesson were WONDERFUL!!! There was no hunting for supplies or starting a lesson only to find out that there is an experiment that day needing XYZ that you don’t have on hand to complete. It’s all right there in the front of the book listed by lesson. How easy is that for a busy homeschooling Momma!!

5) I like how the Apologia website offers sample pages of all the textbooks so you can look through them before buying. Very nice feature.

6) I had to have surgery during this review and ended up with a post-op infection, and was hospitalized for 13 days, many days of laying and doing nothing on pain meds. My son was able to move forward all by himself in the material, that was a huge blessing and he learned a lot. I was very impressed with his drawings of the human cell, normally he hates drawing in science and would whine and carry on if he had to draw anything besides a Star Wars action guy! lol. But he really had a fun time with the Anatomy Notebooking Journal.

Looking back at our years of struggling with science, I wish we had decided to use Apologia Educational Ministries, INC long ago!! Our son would like to go back and do the other Apologia science books: Zoology, Astronomy, Botany, Flying Creation and Swimming Creation. So I think we will be spending our summers under a shade tree or at the beach with some new Apologia science books. 

What do you use for science? Why do you like it?